Bella Figura: A Story of Coordinated Couples

All the street is a stage in Sicily. Those who show up for a performance had better be decked out for the part.

Living here feels like walking through a gigantic theatrical production. Flamboyance and fantasia rule.

Couples herald their coupledom with coordinated outfits. My own husband will not agree to this. (He finds it a challenge to coordinate his socks.)

Some dress-alike couples are subtle.

Others not so much.

It wouldn’t be fair to i siciliani to say their obsession with clothing springs from narcissism. Elegance shows civic altruism: you are prettifying the landscape for the delight of your fellow citizens. As the old Sicilian saying goes, Mancia a gustu tò, càusa e vesti a gustu d’àutru;Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

Click here to read Shoes Like Gondolas, the true tale of my failed attempt to become an Italian fashion goddess. I wrote it after my first long visit to Ragusa Ibla (Sicily) in 2002.

How amazing to see couples so willing to identify in these creatively fashionable ways. In the US, I think of matching Bermuda shorts and T-shirts that say “We’re spending our children’s inheritance” or something equally tacky. As usual, your photos are marvelous!